Rebecca's Blog

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Journal Roundup

Journal Roundup

American Journal of Ophthalmology

Smoking and dry eye: The title of this study (below) in the June issue pretty much says it all. The difference between smokers and controls was actually quite remarkable - smoking more than halved TBUT, for example (5.41 in smokers, 11.20 in controls) and reduced corneal sensitivity by about a third. Smoking associated with damage to the lipid layer of the ocular surface. Altinors et al, AJO June 2006 Vol 141 No 6 Pp 1016-1021. Click here for abstract.

Fluorophotometer useful in dry eye diagnosis? Based on the abstract the results sound pretty impressive. However all they were testing was people with low Schirmer scores. We'd be interested to hear how this fares with patients who are symptomatic without being excessively aqueous deficient. Fluorophotometry as a diagnostic tool for the evaluation of dry eye disease. Fahim et al, BMC Ophthalmology, 2006 May 26;6(1):20. Click here for abstract.

Bone Marrow Transplantation

Autologous serum eyedrop contamination risks. In this study of HPCT patients, 32% had dry eye. Of interest and concern to us is their finding that six of 11 autologous serum eyedrop samples were contaminated after 30 days of use. We can't afford to subscribe to every journal on the planet but we sure would be interested to know what their AST preparation and handling protocols were like. Risk factors and characteristics of ocular complications, and efficacy of autologous serum tears after haematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation. Leite et al, Bone Marrow Transplant, 2006 Jun 19; [Epub ahead of print]. Click here for abstract.

Something other than drops, drugs and plugs: We'll be lazy and simply quote from this very readable abstract, just this once: "The authors are making a comprehensive discussion on the methods and curative effects of treating dry eye by traditional Chinese medicine and by integrative Chinese and Western medicine in recent years, so as to introduce the distinctive features of the traditional Chinese medicine and integrative Chinese and Western medicine in this field." A survey on treatment of dry eye by traditional chinese medicine and integrative chinese and Western medicine. Zhou et al, Chin J Integred Med, 2006 Jun;12(2):154-9. Click here for abstract.

Cornea

New SmartPlug complication: A case report in the May issue of Cornea details two separate incidents of pyogenic granuloma formation two years after insertion of SmartPlugs. One case required surgery; in the other, the growth got smaller after the plug was irrigated out. Pyogenic granuloma formation following placement of the Medennium SmartPLUG punctum plug. Chou et al, Cornea May 2006 Vol 25 No 4 Pp 493-495. Click here for abstract.

The sexy side of dry eye: The title's a bit of a mouthful (no pun, er, never mind) and it's predictably technical but for those of you following hormonal research in ocular surface disease, see this study on sex steroids: 'Identification of Steroidogenic Enzyme mRNAs in the Human Lacrimal Gland, Meibomian Gland, Cornea and Conjunctiva' presented by Schirra et al (Cornea, May 2006, Vol 25 No 4 Pp 438-442).

Experimental Eye Research

One of those again... There oughtta be a law against abstracts with an average of more than 10 syllables per word. Especially since with authors like these, we know this stuff is important and we want to understand it. The title is crystal clear but we confess to getting crossed eyes in the middle of the first sentence. Corticosteroid and doxycycline suppress MMP-9 and inflammatory cytokine expression, MAPK activation in the corneal epithelium in experimental dry eye. De Paiva et al, Exp Eye Res 2006 Sep;83(3):526-35. Epub 2006 Apr 27. Click here for abstract.

Another dry eye diagnostic: Appears to correlate very well with other objective diagnostic testing. We'd be interested to know whether & how it correlates with symptoms. Strip meniscometry: a new and simple method of tear meniscus evaluation. Dogru et al, Invest Ophthal & Vis Sci 2006 May;47(5):1895-901. Click here for abstract.

Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery

Publish all you want, but... We still won't applaud any of you for trying to figure out ways to do LASIK on people with pre-existing dry eye. However, if the patients are going to get it done no matter what we say, we're not displeased to hear that you're paying attention to the specific effects of dry eye drops of various sorts after surgery. Safety and efficacy of cyclosporine 0.05% drops versus unpreserved artificial tears in dry-eye patients having laser in situ keratomileusis. Salib et al, Jour Cat Refract Surg, 2006 May;32(5):772-8. Click here for abstract

Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics

Anything to relieve the burning, doc! Patients in this study seemed both happier and better off with Keterolac during their initiation to Restasis. Ketorolac during the induction phase of cyclosporin-A therapy. Schechter. Jour Ocul Pharmacol Ther, 2006 Apr;22(2):150-4. Click here for abstract.

Journal of Refractive Surgery

Careful with the wonderdrug du jour, please: Mitomycin C is becoming increasingly popular of late as a means of reducing the risk of subepithelial corneal haze in PRK patients, but rational guidelines for its use are about as scarce as knowledge of the long-term risks, as pointed out in two recent studies in the Journal of Refractive Surgery: 1) According to a case study presented in May's issue, intraoperative use of mitomycin C during PRK may induce or exacerbate tear deficiency. See Dry eye after photorefractive keratectomy with adjuvant mitomycin C, Kymionis et al, Jour Refract Surg 2006 May 22;5 pp 511-513 or click here for abstract. 2) For an excellent and rather sobering study about MMC, see Effect of Prophylactic and Therapeutic Mitomycin C on Corneal Apoptosis, Cellular Proliferation, Haze, and Long-term Keratocyte Density in Rabbits, Netto et al, Jour Refract Surg 2006 Jun 22;6; click here for abstract. Sigh - still no free lunch for high myopes getting refractive surgery.

Ophthalmologica

Of red eyes and dry eyes: This is an interesting survey of ophthalmologists and GPs from 9 eastern European and middle eastern countries who recorded details of all visits from patients with red eyes for a 20-day period. 25% of patients were diagnosed with dry eye. GPs were apparently exceedingly aggressive with the topical antibiotics and steroids. The differential diagnosis of red eye: a survey of medical practitioners from eastern europe and the middle East. Petricek et al, Ophthalmologica, 2006;220(4):229-37. Click here for abstract.

Sounds interesting. Now if we only knew what it meant. Difficult to formulate any intelligible summary from the abstract, but this is a topic of intense interest to us so if a subscriber to the publication feels any burning desire to share some of the details, we'd be all ears. Mucins and TFF peptides of the tear film and lacrimal apparatus. Paulsen et al, Prog Histochem Cytochem, 2006 Jul 17;41(1):1-53. Epub 2006 May 23. Click here for abstract.